Women's Olympic Qualifier: Ireland hold Belgium to goalless draw in opener in Valencia

Ayeisha McFerran was at her brilliant best for Ireland

Ireland held world number four Belgium to a goalless draw in the opening game of the Olympic qualifiers in Valencia.

It was an outstanding defensive performance from the Irish and a result that should give the squad confidence moving forward in the tournament.

Only three weeks ago, the sides had clashed in a pre-Christmas five-nation tournament at the same venue and Belgium won 5-3.

All five Belgian goals on that occasion came from penalty corners.

They forced 12 in this game and the Irish defence, led by goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran who was at her world-class best, kept the Belgians out. An incredible clearance off the line by Lena Neill was the other highlight.

"We showed everything that a proud Irish team encompasses and strives for and there was a lot of pride in the jersey out there tonight but I also think there was a lot of hard work over the last couple of months that have got us to that performance especially from a defensive side," explained Ireland captain Katie Mullan.

"I'm just really really proud of the girls today. I think from minute one to minute sixty we were in the game and we were battling hard and I couldn't have asked for any more from any of them so yeah just really proud and now we reset, recover and focus on the next game."

Ireland started nervously, conceding a lot of territory to Belgium who had their first penalty corner opportunity after only 30 seconds.

They had nine in the first quarter alone but the brave running of Mullan and Sarah Torrans and McFerran's heroics kept the game scoreless.

However after half-time Ireland began to find their rhythm and while it never resulted in causing Belgium to many defensive problems it did begin to frustrate them.

Neill's clearance off the line with eight minutes remaining preserved a vital point.

McFerran swatted away the 12th and final penalty corner for Belgium but by that stage they had run out of ideas as to how to break down Ireland.

Ireland will now turn their attention to their next game against Ukraine on Monday.

Mullan added: "Yeah it's a very different game. Tournament hockey brings all sorts of different surprises to it and we really stepped up to the mark today and executed in the high pressure moments and we take a lot of confidence from that but it's all the hard work that goes in on the training pitch that gets you to that point.

"One day at a time, the next most important thing is to recover and rest well tomorrow and we prepare for the next game - that's the approach and we're looking forward to it."